Doug Black is only Canadian Senator to post spending details online

OTTAWA — Only one of the country’s more than 100 senators lists spending details online along with his attendance record — showing how often he is in the Senate chamber, and how he spends taxpayer dollars.

The expense reports from Sen. Doug Black, who was appointed to the Senate in January, provide some details about what he expensed to the Senate, including the amount spent on hotel stays, flights, and per diem claims for him, his staff and his spouse.

The simple-to-read forms, which Black posts on his personal website, provide more information than any other senator currently in the upper chamber and give insight into how senators spend money just as the red chamber deals with an ongoing spending scandal.

“Expenses and attendance and these kinds of matters can become a tremendous distraction to people unless you put it out there,” the Conservative senator said in an interview from Calgary.

Without posting spending details, Black said he would “continually” have to explain how he is using money.

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Black should know. Last year, Black resigned as board chairman at the University of Calgary after repaying $28,000 in expenses, some of which appeared to violate the school’s spending policy. Despite questions about his spending, Black placed first in the 2012 Alberta Senate elections, which put him first in line to replace Liberal Joyce Fairbairn after she resigned due to health issues.

Black said he felt he needed to publicly post his Senate expenses as quickly as possible after taking his seat in the upper chamber.

Reviewing the expense reports shows Black spends $1,135 on flights between Ottawa and Calgary (he periodically pays the same amount to bring his spouse to Ottawa), took a $9.63 cab ride in Calgary on April 26, paid $2,000 in rent in May for a secondary home in the capital, and spent $10.46 on April 23 for batteries.

There are some details that the expense forms don’t show. For instance, taxi fees for Black on April 9 for about $9 don’t say how far or where he went in Calgary. Some of those details are missing, he said, because he wants to protect the privacy of people he meets.

“There’s a balance there. Certainly we can put more detail, but I also have to be concerned with privacy,” Black said. “I have to be respectful of others.”

Senators provide high-level overviews of their spending throughout the year. Their quarterly reports show totals for spending by category, including regular travel to and from Ottawa, but don’t give details of how the money was spent.

There is currently no way to publicly access those details unless a senator decides to make them public.

Senate attendance records are also difficult to access. The Senate’s attendance register is available for the public to review, but only by visiting the Senate’s administration’s office in-person in Ottawa.

Black’s staff post online scans of his attendance records submitted to the registry. It shows how many sitting days the Senate had during a month, how many days Black missed and how many more leave days he has before he starts losing pay under Senate rules.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson’s office will scrutinize those rules as part of its audit of Senate spending and oversight. The Senate called Ferguson in last month amid revelations of a pattern of improper expenses claims by Sen. Mike Duffy.

The work could take more than a year to complete, although Ferguson has said he would provide interim results. Whether any senators are named in Ferguson’s final report is unclear.

Senators have privately expressed concern that the decision to bring in the auditor general appeared to lump all senators in with Duffy, now the subject of a criminal investigation. There is equal concern about allowing Ferguson’s office a chance to probe every corner of the Senate’s finances amid fears that he could find wrongdoing beyond what has already been made public.

Black said he’s ready to welcome auditors into his office if asked: “We’re ready. The files are there. We’ll put out a cup of coffee.”